Spring is in the air

Today is one of my favorite kind of pre-spring day: a day full of promise – the promise of warmer days, the promise of flowers and green things coming up from the frozen earth, the promise of bird song and sunny skies. It’s the kind of day when there is just something in the air – bottled spring, if you will – that hints at what will come in the next month or so.

There are other signs that spring is on the way. Pete and I have received our first catalog for native plants, and stores are putting out things for warmer weather: fertilizer, potting mix and seeds. And our plant room (the old sleeping porch) is the perfect sunny spot for grading papers and taking cat naps (for those in our house who have four legs). The sun comes through the windows in the afternoon, making it the warmest room in the house.

I’ve looked at our trees and they are putting out the first attempts at new growth. I haven’t looked very hard anywhere else for green sprigs, fearing that the cold weather to come will nip those in the bud in the next coming days. But this all makes me excited for the coming months, when all of the flowers start to come out. What I am really excited about is the pink dogwood that I planted last year. I’ve always loved those trees for the beautiful brackets they put out. Those and lilacs are the flowering trees/shrubs that I love most. Lilacs remind me of my grandparent’s house. My room there when I visited had a huge lilac bush outside the window, allowing the wonderful fragrance to come into the room with each breeze. And my grandpa worn lilac cologne.

Well, I hope you all can make it out into the sunshine today. Enjoy it while it lasts: snow tonight and colder temperatures all of next week!